The Seven and Phoebe: service in the church

Acts is the second volume of Luke's work addressed to Theophilus (Luke 1:1-4; Acts 1:1). Luke was a companion of Paul, and tradition places the writing of Acts in the early 60s, shortly after the end of its story; many critical scholars date it in the 80s. The events of chapter 6 belong to the early years of the Jerusalem church, perhaps about AD 33-35. By this time thousands had believed (2:41; 4:4), and the church was meeting in the temple courts and in homes (2:46).

Two groups appear in 6:1. The 'Hebraic Jews' (Hebraioi) were Jewish believers who spoke Aramaic and probably Hebrew, born or long settled in Judea. The 'Grecian Jews' (Hellenistai) were Jewish believers who spoke Greek as their first language, many of them from the Diaspora who had come to live in Jerusalem. The second group had its own synagogues in the city (6:9). Widows were among the weakest people in the ancient world, with no inheritance and often no means of support, and the law of Moses repeatedly names them as the concern of God's people (Deuteronomy 10:18; 24:19-21; 27:19). The church had pooled its property to meet need (2:44-45; 4:32-35), and now the system was failing a group.

The chapter is a turning point in Acts. It ends the picture of a church led by the Twelve alone, brings Stephen forward and, through his death in chapter 7, leads to the scattering of the church and the spread of the gospel to Judea, Samaria and beyond (8:1, 4). In Acts 1:8 Jesus had said this would happen.

Acts is historical narrative, and its rules are those of narrative: the author selects events to show what God was doing through Christ's Spirit, and describes more often than he prescribes. Acts 6 describes one solution to one problem. It does not say that every church must have seven men, or that this arrangement is the only one. A reader should ask what the narrator says about the people, the problem, the process and the result, and then compare other texts.

The passage must also be read with care about names. Luke does not call the Seven 'deacons' (diakonoi). He uses the verb diakonein (to serve) in 6:2 and the noun diakonia (service) in 6:1 and 6:4. The noun in 6:1 is the 'daily distribution'; the noun in 6:4 is the 'ministry of the word.' The same family of words covers both. Whether the Seven were an early form of the office of deacon is argued below; the text does not settle it, and the class marks the point where the text ends and the argument begins.

The two parts of the chapter belong together. The first half (6:1-7) shows the church solving an internal problem; the second (6:8-15) shows one of the Seven in public witness and under attack. Luke wants the reader to see both: the man chosen to deal with a food problem is also full of the Spirit and powerful in speech. Luke places them side by side on purpose.

Verse 1

The Hellenists 'began to grumble' (gongysmos, a complaint made in murmurs), the word for Israel's complaints in the wilderness (Exodus 16:7-8; compare 1 Corinthians 10:10). The widows were 'being overlooked' in the 'daily distribution' (diakonia). Luke does not say that the overlooking was deliberate; the complaint is that it happened.

Verses 2–4

The Twelve summon 'all the disciples' and say it is 'unacceptable' for them 'to neglect the word of God in order to wait on tables.' The phrase 'wait on tables' (diakonein trapezais) uses the same verb as service. They propose that the people 'select' (episkepsasthe, look out) seven men 'confirmed' (martyroumenous, with a good witness) as 'full of the Spirit and wisdom,' and say 'We will appoint (katastesomen) this responsibility to them.' The apostles keep two tasks: prayer and 'the ministry of the word' (diakonia tou logou). The distinction is between two forms of service, not between service and no service.

Verse 5

'This proposal pleased the whole group.' They chose Stephen, 'a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit,' then Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicolas of Antioch, 'a convert to Judaism' (a proselyte). All seven names are Greek, which suggests they came from the Hellenist group, the one that had complained. The choosing belongs to the whole community; the appointment is confirmed by the apostles.

Verse 6

'They presented these seven to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.' The laying on of hands is an old sign of setting apart for a task (Numbers 27:18-23, Joshua; Deuteronomy 34:9). Luke uses it elsewhere of the Antioch church sending out Barnabas and Saul (Acts 13:3) and of the Spirit's gift (8:17; 19:6). Here it marks commissioning with prayer. Acts does not say that it conveyed a rank.

Verse 7

'The word of God continued to spread.' The success of the church is the result of resolving the dispute, and 'a great number of priests became obedient to the faith,' men from the very temple community that opposed Jesus.

Verses 8–10

The Seven were not limited to tables. Stephen, 'full of grace and power,' performs wonders and signs and argues with members of the 'Synagogue of the Freedmen' and men from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia and Asia. His wisdom and the Spirit by whom he speaks cannot be answered. Philip, another of the Seven, preaches in Samaria and to the Ethiopian official (8:5-40) and is later called the evangelist and one of the Seven (21:8). The Seven are therefore known for preaching and the Spirit.

Verses 11–15

Opponents persuade men to say that they heard Stephen speak 'blasphemy against Moses and against God.' They stir up the people, the elders and the scribes, seize him and bring him to the Sanhedrin, where false witnesses accuse him of speaking against 'this holy place and the law' and of saying that Jesus of Nazareth would destroy the temple. The Sanhedrin sees his face like that of an angel, a possible echo of Moses' face after meeting God (Exodus 34:29-35).

Phoebe is the other New Testament figure in this class. In Romans 16:1-2 Paul commends 'our sister Phoebe,' a diakonos of the church in Cenchreae (the eastern port of Corinth), and asks the Roman church to receive her and help her. He describes her as a prostatis, a patron or helper, of many and of Paul himself. It is probable that she carried the letter to Rome, though the text does not say so. The Greek is the masculine form diakonos with no feminine form in use. Translators render it 'servant' or 'deacon.' The word elsewhere describes Paul and Apollos (1 Corinthians 3:5), Tychicus (Ephesians 6:21), Timothy (1 Timothy 4:6) and Christ (Romans 15:8), and it names an office in Philippians 1:1 and 1 Timothy 3:8, 12. Since Paul adds 'of the church in Cenchreae,' many scholars take it as a title for a recognized role; others read it as a general description of her service.

The New Testament shows service as the shape of all ministry before it shows a rank. Jesus told his disciples that greatness is to be measured by service (Matthew 20:26-28; Mark 10:43-45; Luke 22:26-27), and Paul describes himself, Apollos and Timothy as servants (diakonoi) of Christ or of the gospel (1 Corinthians 3:5; Colossians 1:23; 1 Timothy 4:6). The word is a broad one. Only in Philippians 1:1 and 1 Timothy 3:8-13 does it name a recognized local office, and in Romans 16:1 it may do so for Phoebe.

Acts 6 shows the way this office, or something like it, began to emerge, but the text is restrained. It states that the apostles delegated a practical need to Spirit-filled, well-regarded men whom the whole church chose and whom the apostles set apart with prayer and the laying on of hands. It does not say the Seven were the first deacons, that they continued as a body, or that the office of deacon began here. Philip's description in Acts 21:8 as one of the Seven suggests that the Seven were remembered as a known group in Jerusalem, as the Twelve were. The word 'deacon' is first used of an office in Philippians 1:1, roughly a quarter-century later.

The distinction between the word and the table does not make one holy and the other secular. The apostles keep the ministry of the word because their calling is to the word (compare 1:8), and the Seven take up a ministry in the Spirit, as their qualifications show. The same chapter gives both groups the same gift, the Spirit, and calls both forms of work diakonia. This corrects any picture of church life in which preaching is ministry and care for the needy is not.

Jesus is the pattern of service. He said that the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45), and told the disciples at the supper that he was among them as one who serves (Luke 22:27). He washed their feet (John 13:3-15). Paul calls Christ a servant (diakonos) of the circumcision to confirm God's promises to the patriarchs (Romans 15:8). Every diakonia in the church, from the daily distribution to the ministry of the word, is a share in his.

The widows of Acts 6 recall the care that God promised for the widow in the law (Deuteronomy 10:18; 24:19-21) and that Jesus showed in Luke 7:11-15, where he raised the widow's son at Nain. The apostles' choice to share their work echoes Moses' delegation to men of ability in Exodus 18:13-26, a link not stated by Luke and offered as an echo.

Stephen's trial is told as a repeat of Jesus' own. Both face false witnesses (Mark 14:55-59; Acts 6:13), the charge that Jesus would destroy the temple (Mark 14:58; Acts 6:14), and the Sanhedrin (Acts 6:12; Luke 22:66). The promise of Luke 21:15, that Jesus would give his followers a wisdom their adversaries could not resist, is fulfilled when his opponents 'could not stand up to his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke' (6:10). The disciple suffers as his Lord did, and by his Spirit.